Rough road, hot debate about rural road speeding

Where the pavement meets the dirt road on Pond Brook Road in Hinesburg. This washboard effect is a common occurrence on Vermont’s back roads. When surveyed, residents opted for keeping their dirt roads rather than having them paved, Alex Weinhagen, director of planning and zoning in Hinesburg, said.
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Westford selectboard member Alex Weinhagen knows a thing or two about rural Vermont towns, but when he sent out a survey through Front Porch Forum to his Westford neighbors he got schooled.

This survey asked if potholes should be used as a speed deterrent. Seventy percent of respondents shot down the idea.

The online survey received 80 responses in less than 48 hours. Ninety-eight people responded total.

Commuters have been taking some of Westford’s rural back roads to avoid ongoing construction on Vermont 128 and Vermont 15. Woods Hollow Road, Old Stage Road and Cambridge Road were specifically cited by the selectboard as used by commuters instead of state roads.

After Weinhagen posted the pothole proposal and survey on Front Porch Forum residents largely revolted against the idea.

Tony Kitsos wrote that the pothole solution “rates right up there with putting our gargantuan zucchini in the middle of the road to slow down speeders.”

“The pothole solution would put at risk the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent over the last few years getting the roads up to par,” Kitsos said

Conrad Racine lives on Old Stage Road in Westford. He voted against the pothole-as-speed-deterrent idea. “Voters expect clear and more thoughtful thinking from our elected leaders on problem solving,” he said. “A speeding problem is separate from how we maintain our roads.”

Westford isn’t the only town looking for creative ways to reduce speeding on dirt roads. Weinhagen is also the director of planning and zoning in Hinesburg.

“More law enforcement, signage, speed carts, speed bumps and putting off pothole repair are all ideas that small Vermont towns toss around,” Weinhagen said. “The idea is not that far out there. Some people are willing to deal with rougher roads if it would deter drivers.”

Town roads in Westford are being maintained as scheduled, Weinhagen said. But high traffic volume and speeding on rural roads where people ride horses, push strollers and jog is a problem that needs to be addressed in Westford, he said.

“Residents want traffic returned to the state highways, and we are looking for solutions to make that happen,” Weinhagen said. “It’s a tough nut to crack.”

The way things were

When Michael Hechmer and his family moved to Maple Tree Lane in Westford 25 years ago they would regularly walk on Woods Hollow Road. “Now we don’t feel safe doing that,” he said. “We have in effect been pushed off the roads by high volume and high speed traffic.”

Hechmer said speeding is a sign of anxiety in our society. “Too many people think that their life will be better if only they were somewhere else right now,” he said. “Delusional.”

Anxiety, delusion, or otherwise, the general consensus among Westford select board members was to scrap the pothole proposal and pursue adding money to the budget for more police officers to enforce speed limits.

Westford has no police department. It budgets taxpayer money to pay state police and the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Department to patrol the town.

“We contract them on special detail for traffic enforcement for $30,000 a year,” Weinhagen said. “For the money we pay, we only get a limited amount of time out of them, and it isn’t enough to change the behavior of speeders.”

Speed limits are set according to a road’s design, Weinhagen said. “Most rural dirt roads are 35 miles per hour up to 40, but not too many have a limit as low as 25,” he said.

What can be done?

One suggestion offered up by a resident on Front Porch Forum was to report a speeder’s license plate number to authorities. This could result in a visit from a police officer to the offender’s home, but no legal action could be taken unless the officer witnessed the speeding, police said.

Another resident suggestion was to elect a town constable.

“Pressure from state police, Chittenden County Sheriff’s Department and other law enforcers is what is needed,” John Eckerson said.

Portable speed carts have been an effective tool in Hinesburg, Weinhagen said. So much so that two fixed speed signs have been installed in problematic areas in town, near Champlain Valley Union High School and on Silver Street.

Portable speed carts and fixed speed signs are digital signs that tell drivers their speed as they pass.

“This is something that is being talked about in Westford,” Weinhagen said of speed carts. “They make drivers aware of how fast they are traveling. Whether they work or not on flagrant violators, I am not sure, but it’s a good reminder for most people who might not be paying attention.”

Contact Lynn Monty at LynnMonty@FreePressMedia.com and follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VermontSongbird.